Nissan are said to be reasonably optimistic that the UK will be an important partner with the EU (HERE) and I think this is right. However, the headline on the BBC does not reveal the whole truth. Mr Ghosn, the CEO said that Nissan is not ready to make decisions on plans for its Sunderland plant, which employs 6,700 and investment there depends on the outcome of UK-EU talks on Brexit.
He said: "The question is what will happen to customs, trade and circulation of products. That will determine how, and how much we will invest in the UK,"
The Independent has a slightly more pessimistic take (HERE) and claims that investment at Sunderland is on hold until our deal with the EU is clearer.
This only puts more pressure on the government to negotiate a Norway style agreement with the UK remaining in the EEA with freedom of movement and contributions to the EU budget. Also, Norway is not in the customs union so is able to negotiate trade deals outside the EU but exports to the EU from Norway are subject to customs procedures and suppliers have to provide certificates of origin. Negotiating our own trade deals is a crucial element of Brexit so it's hard to see how Nissan will take to having to supply all this extra paperwork even if (and it's a big if) we manage to get tariff free access to the single market.
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